Appuamce fo r spinal complaints



(No Model.) 2 sneets -sheet 1 P. B. SHELDEN. APPLIANUE FOR SPINAL COMPLAINTS.

No. 507,172. latented Oct. 24,1893.

INVENTOR fifwww BY M f 1 WW" "1 S J/ W M m w w a ATTORNEYS (No Model.) 2- SheetsSheet 2,

P. B. SHELDEN. APPLIANOE FOR SPINAL COMPLAINTS.

Patented Oct. 24, 18 93.

IN VE N TOR A TTOHNEYfi I ull l VUNITEDI'ISTATES 'PHILO B. SHELDEN, or ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPLIANCE ros'srmnt. CQMPLAlNTS.

SPEGIFIGATIOIE forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,172, dated October 24, 1893. Application llledJanum-y 31, 1893- 8....1 No. 460.335. on an To all whom it. may concern:

Be it known that 1, Palm B. SHELDEN, of Erie city, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and use.-

ful Improvement in Appliances for Spinal Complaints, of which the following is .a full, clear, and exact description. I

This invention relates to mechanical a'ppliances for support of the spine, remedying deformities and curing affections thereof, and the invention consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts, substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the claims. The device is mainly in the form of a brace or corset, adjustable in whole or in part, and provided with a steel stayed back pad, the stays extending up the back and being held firmly thereto by means of shoulder straps, also comprising adjustable crutches having combined with them steel body bands or drawings,

in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

. lowersteel body rests, and further comprising an abdominal pad or belt held in place by suspension attachments and bands or webs designed to pass around the legs half way between the knees and hip joints; the whole efiect being mainly to relieve the spine of the weight of the upper portion of the body and to avoid those many objections which use of many other spinal corsets, butespecially to the useof stifi jackets for the treatment of spinal complaints.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying forminga part of this specification,

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the whole device, as seen from its front and showing the corset asopen. Fig. 2 is a back view, in part, showing the corset as in Fig. l, of skeleton construction and partly in section. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, but showing the corset skeleton as inclosed by a cloth or other covering. Fig. 4 is vertical section, on a larger scale, upon the line 4-4 in Fig.3, mainly in illustration of one of the back stays with its attached back pad and band or rest for the adj ustable crutches; and Fig. 5 is a vertical sec tion, upon the line 5-5 in Fig. 2,-mainly in illustration of one of the crutches and its connection with therd pper and lower steel attach to the port and self adjustment, scribed, of the crutch.

3, and is made up for the most,- pflfll bf two,

tain of them may be provided with soft covering 0, as also the lower bodybands or rests B. Said corset portion of the device, assjhown, is divided down the back and up th or made in two halves whieh'elose-in' straps d, buckles 6, two sections or halves are united. in the rear by a lacing or cord fiapplied to eyeleted soft coverings or strips D, the two halves or sections provides for an easy adjustment I do not, however, confine myself -to the employment of a strictly full-laced corset, asthe corset portion of the device may be out so as to be entire at the upper part and divided and laced at the lower part. ings or strips D D extend up aboveand below the body internally with upright steel or'elastio back staysE E, capable of being flexed to conform to the shape or curvature of the spine under treatment. Said stays E E are connected to a back pad F, which sits over or against the lowerend of the spine and they areeaeh constructed with a stirrup or vertical loop-like projection g, which receive through them flexible buckling body bands h h, that connect in front with an abdominal pad or belt G The attached to the one seotion and to have the body bands It pass through theni,

hold the back pad tightto the body, the eifect bearing against that body for the weight to rest on. This abdominal passage of tical stirrup like projections g on the staysE l E, to adjust itself up or down, by suspension 2' ntj b attached to the other section. The

of the corset portion and are fitted 'stirrups or loop-like projections are designedor, object being'to make'the mostpermane'nt portion of thebody body'bands or rests to provide for the supas hereinafter debe and preferably 1s of skeleton construction. as shown in Figs. 1 and 2;oirbe provided with .a cloth or other covering 6 asshownin Fig.1?

that is upper and lower, steel or'elastic opening and closing and encircling body bandsor rests B B, and steel or elastic npriglitsC,con-' necting said bands. These uprights or-cer- D. This connection of of the corset portion to the body.

The soft coverin order to insure a, pressure that is sure to KOO pad or belt is held in place and free, by the the body bands through the verstraps t 11, connected below with ban ds or webs H H, which are designed to pass around the legs half way between the knees and hip joints. The upper ends of the vertical strips D-D have attached to them shoulder straps I I, which buckle below as shown in Fig. 1 and which serve to keep the back stays E E firmly to their-place.

j The steel body bands may, if found desirable, be riveted fast to the steel stays in the back pad.

The upper and lower steel body bands B B may be arranged to pass partly on the outside and partly on the inside of the corset and serve to carry or support crutches J J, of which k k are the arm seats and Z Z the legs or uprights connected by staples and wires or otherwise with the arm seats. These legs Z Z, which are represented as of two thicknesses for the greater portion of their length riveted together, are each fitted to slide up and down outside of or against an upright metal bar or strip m, which virtually forms a portion of each crutch and which is hinged or pivoted, so as to swing laterally either way, asby a pin or rivet n, to the lower body band B and is hooked or bent at its upper end to rest on and slide to the right or left upon the upper body band B. The log orupright t of each crutch is connected with and fitted to slide up and down the lower pivoted metal strip or bar m by means of clips or guides o 0, through which the leg 1 is free to slide up and down subject to the control of a rubber strap spring M, connected as by upper and lower arms 4" '1', attached respectively, the upper one to the bar or strip m and the lower one to the leg Z, although I do not restrict myself to this manner of attaching the spring nor yet to the kind of spring shown, as a different or metallic spring might be used, so long as it will exert. a tension to force the leg I and arm seat 7a of thecrntch upward in'order to give the'necessary elastic support to the arm resting upon it.

By making the crutches J J self-adjusting both up and down and to swing laterally in either direction,an increased freedom of movement is adorded for the body, and yet by the crutches being supported by the steel body bands and by the lower body band B to which the crutches are pivoted or attached being fast to the back pad F, the weight of the upper part of the body is largely thrown below or transferred to the hips, thus relieving the spine, and the abdominal pad or belt G holds the lower portion of the back pad F in place and tight to the back as well as subserves other useful purposes. The vertical stirrup r loop-like projections you the stays E E also serve as handles to adjust the back pad F and make it fit snugly to its required place on the back.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In mechanical appliances of the cl1aracter described, for the treatment of spinal affections, the combination of the vertically yielding spring supported crutches with the upper and lower steel body bands forming rests therefor, substantially as specified.

2. In combination with the upper and lower steel body bands or rests B B, of the adj ustable crutches J J, supported by said bands and pivoted to the lower one, said crutches being constructed in sections fitted to slide the one up and down or against the other and being provided with aspring controlling said movement, whereby said crutches are both free to rock laterally on their pivots as well as to be self-adjusting up and down, essentially as described.

3. The combination, with the corset portion of the appliance having steel back stays anda back pad attached to the lower ends of said stays, of the abdominal pad or belt G, with its attached straps h h, connecting said belt with said stays, substantially as described, the suspension straps i 11, and the leg bands or webs H H, as herein set forth.

, PHILO B. Sl-IELDEN, 

